Top Jam of the Week: "Anxiety" by Eddy Current Suppression Ring

I can’t say when exactly this new Eddy Current Suppression Ring album, Rush to Relax, is going to be available in the states. It’s slated for a February release in Australia on Aarght Records, and I’m assuming it won’t take three years to get here like their debut album. I can’t say for sure whether Rush to Relax will be on Goner Records, the American label which re-issued ECSR’s debut this past year, and their follow up, Primary Colours in ’08. To these ears, ECSR deserve to be a break out act in ’10, and whether they break away from Goner or not, remains to be seen. What I can say, however, is that if lead track “Anxiety,” is in any way representative of the rest of Rush to Relax, those in the know — Those who know ECSR are one of the baddest rock bands in all the land — won’t be disappointed.

By words and description, “Anxiety,” would be a mess. Mr. Brendan Suppression is his usual agitated self, blurting and blasting out lines about anxiety racking his life. The guitars, especially in the bridge, have that high-arching, quick-fingered Superchunk sound. The rhythm section, meanwhile, has different designs, providing a groove much more surf rock than anything American indie rock. Yet, it all comes together. For the strength of Eddy Current Suppression Ring is their oblivious attitude to the lines we’ve created to segment even the slightest variation of Rock ‘N’ Roll into its own, neat little space. So, whether it’s playing garage rock like a post-punk band, or here on “Anxiety,” where they do American Indie in the style of a surf rock band, Eddy Current Suppression Ring know of only one style, and one sub-genre of Rock ‘N’ Roll – The one that’s fast, rowdy, and free.

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